Saltwater cycle question

[jl327fife]

Should I be running my protein skimmer in a brand new saltwater setup while doing a fishless cycle? 55gal, filled 11 days ago, Ph-8.2, Ammonia 4.0 (for 4 days in a row), Nitrite-1.0 (up from .25 yesterday), Nitrate just went from 10-15 overnight.
I had a dead shrimp in the tank until 3 days ago when the Ammonia went to 4.0 but took it out, my ammonia has been at 4.0 since the day I took it out, should I put another one in??

 

[abdhalim2]

No...i dont think u shud....IMO just let the water cycle and do PWC....

 

[cmor1701d]

Don't run the PS and don't do anything. Now you are in the waiting game. Ammonia has peaked and the bacterai need to grow,, and divide, grow and divide.

Don't bother testing pH now either. You just need to check on ammonia and nitrite for now. When the ammonia crashes and nitrite peaks start testing nitrate too.

 

[jl327fife]

thanks for the info! I'll turn off the PS, when I left this morning it had a good amount of "product" in it.